Children do not have to meet “sketchy” people to buy drug-laced vapes, they can order them online instead, an MP has warned.

Wera Hobhouse suggested the Government should use the Tobacco and Vapes Bill to target online sales, in a bid to prevent young people from buying e-liquids containing the synthetic street drug spice.

Policing minister Dame Diana Johnson warned spice-laced vapes are already “illegal” but admitted “further restrictions are needed” to combat the level of youth vaping.

The Liberal Democrat MP led a Commons debate on spice-spiked vapes, after the University of Bath’s Professor Chris Pudney tested 596 vapes confiscated from schools in England and found 16.6% contained the so-called “zombie drug” spice.

Newspapers in Kent and South London reported earlier in 2024 that pupils became ill after using vapes which may have contained spice across Herne Bay and Eltham.

Cleveland Police warned last year it had received reports of young people collapsing in a Middlesbrough school and “a number” of vapes were sent for spice testing, while North Yorkshire Police said its officers seized
vape liquid from a Selby 17-year-old which contained synthetic cannabinoids.

Labour has promised to revive the Tobacco and Vapes Bill in this year’s King’s Speech, after the previous Conservative government progressed plans to put limits and restrictions on how vapes are marketed. The previous government also pledged a ban on disposable vapes.

“Some bits of the Bill will address the issue,” Ms Hobhouse told MPs on Tuesday.

“But I am particularly talking about refills and what the Government is intending to do about refills and the ready availability on the internet.”

The MP for Bath suggested children have used Snapchat and Telegram to buy drugs, and added: “Gone are the days when you needed to meet a sketchy person in a back alley to get hold of illegal drugs. These days, these drugs are now readily available over the internet and that is a big part of the problem.”

She called on the Government to introduce tougher “regulatory oversight for online platforms” and to set up a “task force” comprising technology firm representatives and cybersecurity experts for better detection and disruption of online spice distribution.

“Vapes containing spice are illegal and no one should be buying or using these products,” Dame Diana said in her reply, and added Home Office and health officials had already met with Professor Pudney.

She said: “The Government welcomes adult smokers switching to vaping as part of the effort to give up smoking but it discourages the use of vaping by children and non-smokers.”

The Home Office minister later said “further restrictions are needed” based on the high level of youth vaping, but assured Ms Hobhouse the Government is “alive to the dangers of children vaping”. She promised to “feed back” Ms Hobhouse’s suggestions to ministers.

Professor Pudney said earlier this year: “We know children can have cardiac arrests when they smoke spice, and I believe some have come quite close to death.”

He added: “This is not just a niche, one-off occurrence that happens in a school far away from you – this is something common.”